"If you save the life of one person, it is as if you saved the world entire." - Jewish Proverb


Picture and caption courtesy of the Visas for Life Foundation
Photo of German murder squads who killed more than 15,000 Jews in three days. By the war's end, more than 94 percent of Lithuanian Jews had been killed.

Picture and caption courtesy of the Visas for Life Foundation
Massacre of thousands of Lithuanian Jews. Ninth Fort, Kaunas, 1941.
Hitler originally let Jewish people leave Austria and Germany. However, this created an influx of refugees which was problematic in many countries. Many governments inquired this problem at the Evian Conference, in 1938. Many superpower governments (United States, England etc.) agreed with Australian delegate T. W. White, “that as we have no racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one.” This was a big failure in responsibility. Millions could have been saved, even though it is understandable that security was an issue. This possibly solidified Hitler’s plan to exterminate the Jewish people, because no one wanted them. The Soviet Union and Evian Conference attendees displayed similar anti-Semitic attitudes. Jewish people became trapped, unless they acquired the necessary papers to leave, which Sugihara could issue. His character was a big role in the responsibility he felt for the refugees.

After Sugihara issued the visas, the Japanese saw an influx of refugees. The influx sparked their interest in the “Jewish problem.” Japanese admirals met with a few Jewish representatives and asked, "What is the inherent evil of your people that our friends the Germans hate so much?" "The Nazis hate the Jews because the Nazis know that we Jews are Asians," one of the representatives answered, "My dear friends, I have just come from Europe. I have lived with the great hate that the Nazis have for others. I think that perhaps no one who has not lived in the midst of it can understand it. But to get even an inkling of the scope of their hate, don't read their writings in the censored translations they give you. Read what Nazis write in original German. There, you will learn that you are also are on their list of 'inferior people.' So are the gypsies, the blacks, the Slavs...and the Japanese." Ultimately, the Japanese ended up protecting the Jewish refugees, despite pressure from the Nazis.

Actions and Legacies | Early Years | A Japanese in Kaunas | Into Obscurity
Legacy of the War
 | Significance & Conclusion |  Process Paper | Bibliography